How Important Are Green Vegetables, Really?

All my life, my mother has told me that eating at least one green vegetable each day is essential for a healthy diet. My toddler will one day eat a small pile of broccoli and then refuse to touch broccoli for a month. Sometimes a few weeks go by and the green vegetables are barely touched, and I’m not sure in these periods how much to be concerned about this. I’m wondering, though, what do we know about the importance of green vegetables in our diet? Are there actually nutrients that we get from green vegetables that we cannot get from any other food source, or that we get in much greater quantities from green vegetables? And if so, how often does one actually need to eat them to derive this benefit?
—Trying to relax about food

Feeding toddlers is an adventure, and not always a good one. The ages from about 18 months through 6 or so bring (on average) the pickiest eating. Your 15-month-old will eat everything, and then all of a sudden it’s like “white foods or bust.” Even if they are not consistently picky, they can be random. One day your child inhales a giant pile of kale chips. Two days later, they throw them on the floor and cry hysterically.

The anxiety that can come with this transition and unpredictability is not generally helped by advice that makes it seem like not eating green vegetables will kill you.

a person with two babies and having vegetables on the table — RDNE Stock project / Pexels

Green vegetables contain a number of vitamins — A, C, K, E — and minerals. They also have fiber, which is good for you. Overall, these vegetables are indeed part of a recommended diet. However, it is not the case that they are the only way to get these nutrients. Take something like vitamin C, which is in many green veggies. It’s true that your child needs some vitamin C (if you have literally none, you’ll get scurvy). But vitamin C is in many, many foods. Does your child eat ketchup? Do they ever have juice? Do they eat strawberries? Super, they’re getting enough vitamin C.

The same logic applies to other vitamins. There isn’t anything in green veggies that isn’t in some other foods. So don’t stress out!

If you do want some advice about getting kids to eat more vegetables, the best I can offer is to consider serving them with dip.